Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero-c!nadel From: farmerl@handel.CS.ColoState.Edu (lisa ann farmer) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: "Woman" or "Girl"? Message-ID: <14909@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> Date: 16 May 91 02:49:19 GMT References: <1991May13.223727.8721@aero.org> Sender: news@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU Reply-To: handel!farmerl@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU (lisa ann farmer) Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 Lines: 33 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org In article <1991May13.223727.8721@aero.org> NRILEY@BOOTES.UNM.EDU (Natalie Riley Osorio) writes: > > My feeling is that an even bigger problem lies in the stigmatism that >apparently exists in being called a "girl," or for that matter, a "woman" >as opposed to "womyn," etc. These words should not imply one who is " weak, >naive, and stupid " or anything else. It seems to me that part of the reason >these words have derrogatory implications is that people are insisting they >are derrogatory. I am interested in hearing what other people feel about this. When I think of a girl I think of someone who is dependent (on parents) for their survival. Granted many college students are being supported financially by their parents but I think that is a different situation. Many societies have rituals for going into womanhood. It is recognized as a step in a person's life. In the US we really don't have a ritual so essentially we never become a woman until we have a child or something. But even my mother calls 40 yr old women girls. I think I like referring to myself and others as women because that implies that one is independent. I am not saying that girls can't be independent but as a rule most children aren't. It is definitely a issue of semantics - I have heard some black women call other women "girl" and it didn't have the same connotation. It was mentioned above that there is a negative feel to girl - just a thought- Think about a young child - when someone says that they are a "cute little boy/girl" the first thing the child says is "I'm not little". I feel it is kind of the same thing. Lisa farmerl@handel.cs.colostate.edu "If people want to make war they should make a colour war and paint each other's cities up in the night in pinks and greens." Yoko Ono (_Louder than Words_)